Summer Research Project

For all Year 12 students (who'll be Year 13 in September '11)...

The following needs to be completed by the first lesson you come back at the start of September..

• Start a new blog. Call it MEST 4: Research & Production



• Leave a comment with the address and your name in the comments section below so I can put up a link on this blog.



• Choose a film or television text or video game that you are really interested in and that is less than five years old.



• Get hold of a copy of your text. Watch it at least once over the summer. While you are watching it make key concepts notes and post them up on your new blog, considering the following questions for each key concept...
  

Media Representations

Who is being represented?

• In what way?



• By whom?
  

Why is the subject being represented in this way?

• Is the representation fair and accurate?



• What opportunities exist for self-representation by the subject?

Media Languages and Forms

• What are the denotative and connotative levels of meaning?



• What is the significance of the text’s connotations?



• What are the non-verbal structures of meaning in the text (e.g. gesture, facial expression, positional communication, clothing, props etc)?



• What is the significance of mise-en-scene/sets/settings?



• What work is being done by the sound track/commentary/language of the text?



• What are the dominant images and iconography, and what is their relevance to the major themes of the text?



• What sound and visual techniques are used to convey meaning (e.g. camera positioning, editing; the ways that images and sounds are combined to convey meaning)?

Narrative

• How is the narrative organised and structured?



• How is the audience positioned in relation to the narrative?



• How are characters delineated? What is their narrative function? How are heroes and villains created?



• What techniques of identification and alienation are employed?



• What is the role of such features as sound, music, iconography, genre, mise-en-scene, editing etc within the narrative?



• What are the major themes of the narrative? What values/ideologies does it embody?

Genre

• To which genre does the text belong?



• What are the major generic conventions within the text?



• What are the major iconographic features of the text?



• What are the major generic themes?



• To what extent are the characters generically determined?



• To what extent are the audience’s generic expectations of the text fulfilled or cheated by the text? Does the text conform to the characteristics of the genre, or does it treat them playfully or ironically?



• Does the text feature a star, a director, a writer etc who is strongly associated with the genre? What meanings and associations do they have?

Media Institutions

• What is the institutional source of the text?



• In what ways has the text been influenced or shaped by the institution which produced it?



• Is the source a public service or commercial institution? What difference does this make to the text?



• Who owns and controls the institution concerned and does this matter?



• How has the text been distributed?
  

Media Values and Ideology

• What are the major values, ideologies and assumptions underpinning the text or naturalised within it?



• What criteria have been used for selecting the content presented?
  

Media Audiences

• To whom is the text addressed? What is the target audience?



• What assumptions about the audience’s characteristics are implicit within the text?



• What assumptions about the audience are implicit in the text’s scheduling or positioning?



• In what conditions is the audience likely to receive the text? Does this impact upon the formal characteristics of the text?



• What do you know or can you assume about the likely size and constituency of the audience?



• What are the probable and possible audience readings of the text?



• How do you, as an audience member, read and evaluate the text? To what extent is your reading and evaluation influenced by your age, gender, background etc?
  

Other Tasks to complete by the start of September...

• Research your text on the internet. Start by using the de.li.cio.us tags that are on the sidebar ('Macguffin Links') to guide your research. These links are some of the best sites for Media Studies.
  


• Post up all evidence of research on your blog. You are looking for the following: reviews, newspaper/magazine articles, useful book titles linked to your text, relevant theory, relevant media issues and debates, information about wider contexts, etc.
  


• Don't just cut and paste mindlessly - be selective, try to summarise the information, comment on it and explain why it is useful. Also, make sure that you include specific links to all the sites you find.
  


• Feel free to be as creative with your blogs as you can. Include pictures, clips, reflections, links, etc.
  


• Prepare a presentation to be given to the class during the first week you return. In this you will show everyone your blog and talk through the research you found. Also, you will need to put together a five-minute Powerpoint presentation that summarises what you've found out. Use the Significance, Structure, Simplicity, Rehearsal checklist on slide 58 of the guide about how to prevent Death by PowerPoint as this will help you produce a more interesting presentation.
  

Good luck. There is a lot to do here. Our advice is to work on this throughout the Summer rather than leaving it all to the last minute. It should be an enjoyable process - finding out about something that you're interested in. If you have any problems then please don't hesitate to email me.

And remember, the aim of this is to develop your key research skills that you'll be using when you do your coursework next year...and these are skills that are vital for any subject you do in Year 13 or at university.